


Hospital Confessions

by dansrusse



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 21:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dansrusse/pseuds/dansrusse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terezi gets hit by a car, and under the influence of drugs, finally, finally confesses her true feelings to Dave. 80% adorable dialogue, 17% fluff, 2% hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hospital Confessions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [demonoflight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonoflight/gifts).



     The first thing they notice about the new world is that no one asks questions. The presence of of 16 beings that look nothing like the native inhabitants of the world (blue-skinned, hornless bi-peds) is something that just is. It’s not worth wondering about. Even when they push the envelope, like when John takes to the sky or two Aradias appear in the same place at the same time, no one questions it. Most of the time, it’s just something that is, a benefit that comes from winning the game.

     And they did win it. It was hard, and they all died at some point in time, but they won, and they created this world, and they get to live in it, peacefully. And that’s the best part, the peacefulness. The quiet. They spent months in the game, some longer, and none of that time was peaceful. It was exciting, yes, and magical, but it also was painful, both physically and mentally, and it was draining. Maybe that’s why after it ended all of them thought that nothing could go wrong, ever again. They had had all the trauma they could take.

     But that’s not how life works. Life chucks lemons at you, and apples, and oranges, and sometimes there a few rocks in that fruit salad, and sometimes the fruit is rotten. But kids don’t think that way. So it took Terezi getting hit by a car for them to realize that in this world, they weren’t the heroes. They were just people, like everyone else.

********

     The new world is different. It’s busy all over, like the whole world is New York City, and not like Alternia at all. Everyone is constantly moving, by car, by bicycle, bus, train, boat - there are so many people, and so many ways to get around, it’s disorienting, and for a small, skinny blind girl, it’s overwhelming. The scents and colors all bleed together, and it’s hard to tell if that’s a red car speeding by, or a white city bus, because the smells get mixed with perfume, and bakeries, and exhaust pipes.

     It’s hard. It’s different from what anyone knows, little bits and pieces of the human’s world and Alternia cobbled together with something entirely new and different to both races. But slowly, they adjust, each group aiding the others. No one knows what to expect, so the groups cling to each other. While some petty fights still break out, they have become more comfortable with each other’s company, finally beginning to learn that they have only each other.

     But even as the group as a whole grows closer, small couples, tiny groupings, begin appearing with in the whole. John and Rose spend more and more time with each other, whispering on the couch, pressing themselves together as closely as possible, while Vriska looks on in jealousy and Kanaya watches Vriska. Sollux and Eridan finally form an official kismesisitude.

     And Terezi clings all the closer to Karkat. He’s angry, and shouty, and still small (but he’s growing, he’ll be taller than her soon) and he doesn’t change. He’ll kick and fuss and lead her across the intersection where there are five pastry shops and a butcher. He makes sure she can get around, and she’s grateful for that. He’s a good matesprit, the best a girl can ask for.

     That’s why she’s on her way to the apartment he shares with Gamzee when it happens.

     It’s not a busy road, it’s calm, and it’s one of the intersections where the lights talk, so she knows when it’s safe to walk. She’s got her cane, and she can smell at this intersection, so she should be safe.

     But none of those things account for drivers who slam around corners on red lights and can’t be bothered to see the girl in a bright red hoodie in the middle of the road.

     She smells cherries, and hears the blaze of a horn.

*********

     She smells snow.

     “WHY THE FUCK DOES SHE HAVE A FEVER? I TOLD YOU NOT TO INSERT ANY FOREIGN OBJECTS INTO HER BODY, I..”

     Karkat’s here.

    Where’s here?

    She feels fuzzy.

    Not on the outside, because on the outside there is something cool, but inside. Her mouth, her tongue, her head. A voice shooshes her, and a hand smooths across her forehead. She goes back to sleep.

********

     Terezi looks worse off then she actually is. She’s bruised everywhere, and is scraped up pretty badly, but her skin is tough (the nurses had trouble getting the IV in) and it won’t scar. All of the damage is under the surface - a broken rib and arm held together by metal pins.

     Dave can’t help but think that she was lucky, that her godhood in this world somehow prevented greater damage from being done. She’s hurt, certainly, but not as badly as she could have been.

     He smoothes the hair away from her face, frowning at the warmth of her skin. She’s normally cooler than he is. She’s normally cool, like a lizard. For her to feel warm to his touch, she has to be running at least a mid-grade fever.

     Dave leans back in his chair. He’s been sitting in it since she got out of surgery, waiting for her to wake up. And before that, he had been sitting in a waiting room with a silent Karkat. And before that, he was sprinting full-out towards the hospital, iPhone pressed to his ear as the operator explains that one of his good friends had just been involved in a car accident.

     Terezi had no emergency contacts, hadn’t thought that she would need them, so the hospital called her most recent call, and that had been Dave, who’d then called Karkat, because fuck stupid feuds, his girlfriend had bee hit by a car and he needed to know. And it turned out to be a good thing that Dave had called Karkat, because for whatever reason, the kid knew a shit-ton about his species’ physiology, and was able to tell the doctors what to do so that they could help Terezi, and not make things worse.

     In fact, even though TZ was out of surgery, and in her own room, Karkat was still outside talking, no, shouting, at the doctor. He’s pissed that Terezi’s got pins in her arm and rib, and that there’s a drip in her hand, but as Dave understands it, all of those things were unavoidable. Her bones were broken pretty badly, and without the drip she’d be in a lot of pain. She’s probably still in a lot of pain, but with the drip, at least she  can sleep.

     Welp,  he might as well tell Karkat and the doctor that she woke up, even though it was only for a couple of seconds.

********

     Karkat ends up having to leave after a while. It’s nearing dinner time, and they’ve both been at the hospital for about six hours, and Gamzee really shouldn’t be left alone for extended periods of time. There’s a reason he lives with Karkat and not on his own. So Karkat leaves, at it’s just Dave, and an unconscious, drugged Terezi.

     Dave slouches down in his chair, and tries to sleep. He’s awakened half an hour later, by an orderly in blue scrubs carrying a tray.

     “This is for you,” the orderly says. “If you’re going to be here all night, you might as well eat something.”

     Dave nods, and picks at the tray. There’s some chicken, and rice, and green beans, but all that interests him is the apple juice. He sips it slowly, and waits for TZ to wake up. She slumbers on, oblivious. He falls asleep, leaning forwards onto the bed.

********

     Terezi wakes up.

     It’s dark, and she’s still fuzzy. But not as fuzzy as before. And there’s a head beside her, a pile of golden hair pillowed on red arms.

     There’s a Dave next to her, a sleeping Dave. She strokes his head with the arm that isn’t all casted up and bound to her body. He burrows his head further into his arms, but then he sits up.

     A sleepy Dave without sunglasses on. His eyes are bright, candy red, heavy with sleep. They’re a pleasant contrast to the bland coldness of the room.

     “What time is it?” she says, voice still heavy with sleep.

     “It’s past midnight,” he says. “You’ve been out for a while.”

     “All day?”

     “Most of it. You got hit by a car on your way to Karkat’s.” Dave’s still mostly asleep, she can tell. Too tired to make snippy metaphors. Too tired to be a douchebag.

     “How long have you been here?”

     He looks away. She can smell it, the cherry red of his eyes goes away. She tugs his hand, and he looks back.

     “All day?” she guesses.

     “All day.”

     She reaches up and paps his face. “You’re a good moirail.”

     Dave pulls back, suddenly awake.

     “Woah, woah. I ain’t your freaky alien boyfriend. That’s Karkat’s job. I ain’t encroaching on Cranky’s territory.”

     Terezi cackles, and her rib throbs. She ignores it.

     “No,” she says, pulling Dave closer by his hair. “That’s the wrong quadrant. Karkat’s my matesprit. You’re my moirail.”

     “Is that the best-friend quadrant?”

     “Yes, coolkid, that is the best friend quadrant. You are the best friend, it is you.”

     Dave’s eyes go all wide.

 

     “But what about John?”

     Terezi shrugs. “Not a quadrant, doesn’t matter.”

     “He’s my best bro, doesn’t that count for something?”

     “Best bros does not fit into a quadrant. Best bros is different.”

     Dave still looks bewildered. Terezi grins, as big and as wide as she can, and smooths her long fingers down Dave’s face. “Be my moirail, Dave?”

     “Wait, so you’re asking me now?”

     “Why not? Now’s as good a time as any. Why not the first time we stay the night together?”

     “In a hospital?”

     She grins, teeth flashing brightly in the dark. “It’s ironic, coolkid.”

     Dave ducks. “You’re catching on fast.”

     “I’m a quick learner. You never answered the question.”

     “I answered it.”

     “You did not. You played your coolkid game and danced right around it. I want a straight answer.”

     “It’s two in the fucking morning, TZ. I don’t have any straight answers. Go back to sleep and I’ll tell you when you wake up.”

     “No,” she pouts. “I want to know now. Will you, Coolkid Strider, by my, Terezi Pryrope, moirail, to have and to hold, to shoosh and to pap...”

     Dave laughs. It’s a startling sound, clear and and happy, purely happy. More genuine than she’s ever heard him speak. “Terezi, babe, you’re high. But yes, I will be your moirail, and you can shoosh-pap me all you want.”

     “Good.” She squeezes his hand, hard, and he squeezes back, but much gentler.”

     “You don’t have to be soft on me, coolkid.”

     He smiles. “I’ll be as gentle as I please.”

     Her eyes are heavy. There’s morphine rushing through her veins, and a coolkid sitting beside her bed.

     “Will you still be here?”

     “Babe, I ain’t leaving, even if they try and drag me out.” He strokes her hair, brushes her bangs out of her burnt eyes. She’s still warm, her body trying to fight the chemicals and metal inside of her.

     “Good.” And Terezi’s eyelids flutter closed, and then she’s asleep. Dave watches her for a moment, and then he crawls up onto the bed, careful not to jostle the IV or her injured arm, and curls up beside her. Within moments, he’s asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
